The Bihar I Have Begun To Believe In

Bihar's greatest resource is not beneath its soil but above it -- its people.
With a population approaching 140 million and one of India's youngest demographic profiles, Bihar possesses an asset many societies would envy, explains Bihar Governor Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).

A few days ago, I was in Mumbai attending a family wedding. Around the table sat people from different parts of India, each speaking about their perception about the achievements and prospects of various states.

Every time I felt compelled to contribute, I found myself speaking about Bihar. Someone eventually remarked, half in jest, that I seemed to have become more Bihari than people actually born in Bihar.

I took that as a compliment.

For over four decades in uniform, I learnt one lesson that distinguishes military leadership from many other forms of leadership; ownership.

Soldiers are trained not merely to discharge responsibility but to internalise it. Wherever they serve, they become part of the mission and part of the environment around them.

A commanding officer does not merely administer a unit; he belongs to it. That instinct does not disappear with superannuation, age or diversification of responsibility.

When I arrived in Bihar, I did not come with Constitutional authority over governance. That responsibility rightly rests with the elected government.

My principal responsibility is higher education.

Yet, like any soldier entrusted with a mission, I found myself looking beyond the narrow confines of duty and becoming invested in the future of the state itself.

Underestimated Bihar

The more I have understood Bihar, the more convinced I have become that it is one of India's most underestimated stories.

The first thing one hears about Bihar is what is wrong with it. The conversation quickly turns to migration, poverty, governance deficits or educational challenges.

Some of these concerns are real and deserve honest attention. In higher education itself, systemic deficiencies accumulated over decades need careful study and reform.

Yet, I have always found one contradiction difficult to accept. How can a state that has produced some of India's finest civil servants, scholars, entrepreneurs, managers and professionals somehow be incapable of running excellent institutions of its own?

Bihar's Unquestionable Talent

Talent has never been Bihar's problem; retaining talent has. For generations, ambitious young Biharis have looked outside the state for education and opportunity. Their success across India is visible everywhere.

The challenge before Bihar today is not creating talent but creating conditions that encourage talent to stay, return and flourish. That challenge acquires greater significance when viewed against a changing global backdrop.

Much of the developed world is ageing. Workforces are shrinking and demographic decline is becoming a strategic concern. Commentator Swaminathan Aiyar recently argued that Bihar could emerge as one of India's answers to this challenge. His argument deserves attention.

Bihar's greatest resource is not beneath its soil but above it -- its people.

With a population approaching 140 million and one of India's youngest demographic profiles, Bihar possesses an asset many societies would envy.

If properly nurtured, its human capital could become one of India's greatest strengths in the decades ahead.

Yet let's remember that demographics alone do not create prosperity. They must be matched by opportunity and resources.

Abundance of Agro Produce

In that too, there is reason for optimism. Bihar possesses some of the most fertile agricultural land in the country, abundant water resources and globally recognised produce such as mangoes, litchis and makhana.

Agricultural universities and research institutions are steadily strengthening this foundation.

Improvements in power availability, roads and law and order have created conditions that were scarcely imaginable a generation ago.

Urbanisation as a Moderniser

What Bihar now requires is the next stage of transformation. That is simply 'urbanisation'. For too long, Bihar remained overwhelmingly rural while other states developed networks of dynamic cities and towns.

The recent emphasis on developing new urban centres therefore carries significance far beyond infrastructure.

It is about creating places that can attract investment, generate employment and retain talent.

Side by side the aviation sector must emerge in all these urban centres. The future of Bihar may well depend on transforming promising 'qasbas' into vibrant urban growth centres.

Civilisational Legacy

Alongside economic transformation lies another opportunity that is uniquely Bihar's. Its civilisational inheritance. Few regions in the world possess a legacy as profound.

The corridor stretching from Patna through Nalanda and Rajgir to Bodh Gaya is not merely a collection of destinations.

It is a living civilisational landscape where history, spirituality and learning converge.

Nalanda should not be remembered merely as the world's first residential university. It should inspire us to build one of the world's most innovative educational ecosystems.

The revival of Bihar's intellectual tradition is not an exercise in nostalgia; it is an investment in the future.

This is also where tourism assumes far greater significance than is usually appreciated. Tourism is not only about visitors.

It generates hospitality, aviation, services, conferences, investment and employment. Bihar's Buddhist, Jain and Sikh connections give it a global reach that few Indian states can match.

Properly developed, this civilisational corridor can become one of India's most important centres of cultural and spiritual engagement.

Strategic Geography

There is another dimension that often receives insufficient attention. Strategic geography. For centuries Bihar occupied a central position in the Gangetic heartland.

Today too, its location gives it natural advantages. Situated between northern and eastern India and connected to Nepal and the wider eastern region, Bihar possesses the potential to emerge as an important hub for connectivity, services, logistics and commerce.

Geography, which once shaped Bihar's historical prominence, may again become one of its strengths.

Aspirations as Dreams

When I reflect upon Bihar's future, however, I return repeatedly to one word. 'Aspiration'. Societies progress when people begin imagining possibilities beyond their immediate circumstances.

Perhaps that explains why I recently created a simple mosaic depicting three dreams for Bihar.

One imagines an Indian naval warship carrying the proud name INS Patna across the oceans.

Another imagines an Army Day Parade being held in Patna in 2028, recognising Bihar's immense contribution to national service and military tradition.

The third, admittedly the most audacious, imagines a future IPL franchise called the Patna Patriots led by Bihar's own cricketing sensation, Vaibhav Suryavanshi.

Will these dreams materialise? Perhaps; perhaps not. That isn't the point. The issue remains, of a society that has insufficiently lived a dream.

Every major transformation begins as an act of collective imagination. Infrastructure, institutions, industries and investments follow later. Before them comes belief.

I have served in many places across India. Bihar is not my birthplace. Yet today I find myself speaking of it with conviction, affection and hope.

Perhaps that is simply the soldier's instinct to own the mission entrusted to him. Or perhaps it is because, beneath the stereotypes and statistics, I have encountered something immensely powerful -- a people who have never lost their ambition despite every challenge.

The Bihar I have begun to believe in is not defined by its past limitations. It is defined by its future possibilities.

And if its people choose to believe in those possibilities as strongly as they believe in themselves, Bihar may yet become one of the most consequential success stories of twenty-first century India.

The greatest resource of Bihar is not its fertile soil, its rivers, or even its civilisational heritage. It is the unrealised confidence of its people, a confidence which is progressively tying me to them from day to day.

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff